Mercenary
by LadyDeathwish
Summary: The continuuation of Week In Review. What does it mean to live a life knowing when you're going to die?
1. Overlook

My cellphone rang. That was inconvenient, though I doubted anybody could hear it from where I was. Note to self: turn ringer _off_ next time I attempt stealth. I brought the binoculars away from my eyes and pulled my cell from my trenchcoat, flipping it open and answering it before it could make too much noise.

"Tifa," I hissed. "_Why_ are you calling me?"

"How did you know it would be me?" she asked, surprised.

"I saw you talking to the Turks, then you went upstairs where I know you have a phone. Seemed like a safe assumption to make."

"Where are you right now?"

"Somewhere close enough." I looked through the binoculars at the bar from a nearby skyscraper several stories up. "I don't have time for this, what do you want?"

"The Turks wanted to know where you are," Tifa said.

"Would you tell them if I told you?"

"No."

I ground my teeth. "Why _not?_"

"Look, I just wanted you to know they're looking for you."

"I know that already, I don't need you to tell me that. Actually, it is a good thing you called."

"Why?"

"Reno looks ready to head to the bar. I think they want to make a move."

"What do you know?"

"Reno and Rude are fairly safe; they don't actually _want_ to hurt you. Elena, however, isn't. She's desperate to impress the boss. She broke in and placed some explosives in the basement of your bar earlier this evening. The idea is they're going to threaten to blow up Seventh Heaven if you don't co-operate."

I heard a sharp intake of breath from Tifa. "What should I do?"

"Call their bluff. Make them flip the switch."

"What?"

"I already moved the explosives. Elena's waiting nearby blow them up, but she's going to be very surprised when something _else_ goes up instead."

"Where did you-"

"I don't have time for this, and neither do you. Reno's headed for the counter."

"Thanks-"

"Save it." I hung up.

I listened to the sounds of the night as I watched the events unfold in the bar, stretching out on the concrete ledge I was perched on letting one foot swing freely out the window twenty-three stories up. Several minutes later, there was a brief series of loud explosions that had the abandoned building collapse across the street from Tifa's bar. It fell straight down in on itself. Now Edge could remove the rubble of that decrepit waste of space and build yet another convenience store or parking lot. Reno and Rude ran outside in surprise and Elena came out from where she was hiding next door. I snickered as I watched the events unfold.

"You would make an excellent Turk, you know."

I groaned. "Tseng, I'm not playing with you tonight. Go away," I waved at him dismissively.

Tseng emerged from the shadows where he'd been watching me all along. "Rufus feels you've betrayed him. He's not going to stop trying to find you," he stated openly.

"So why aren't you reporting me like a good little soldier?" I mocked, giving him a lazy salute.

"Why didn't you just let Elena destroy the bar?"

"More fun this way," I grinned mischeviously. "Hey, question. Was it _really_ necessary to burn down my apartment building? I had some pretty sweet wallscrolls from Wutai in there."

"Rufus wanted to send a message and try to get to you. It was the first place we knew you might return to."

"I suppose." I yawned.

"He might ask us to go after your father next."

"See, that's a line you can't cross safely, Tseng," I said at the end of a stretch, then waved my finger, smiling. "If you or anyone goes after Dad then I'm just going to have to kill all of you. I'm sure you understand." I said playfully. I sat up and groaned. "Tseng, _why_ are you here? Are you making the mistake of trying to help me?" I demanded.

"I'm sure you can take care of yourself. So, what does the infamous mercenary do with herself now?"

"Same old life, I suppose."

"I'm not kidding about the Turks. You would be an excellent addition to my team."

I laughed off my disgust. "I think it's been pretty well established that I don't follow orders well. Last time I'll ask; Why are you here?"

Tseng approached the open window, and I got to my feet and dusted off my trenchcoat to stand beside him as he looked out into the night. "Nostalgia, perhaps," he said after too long of a silence. "Over three years ago I would look out at Midgar's night skyline with Aeris."

"Ugh. Not _this_ again. For the last time, I'm _not_ her."

"Obviously. I was just-"

Tseng's radio beeped and Reno's voice crackled through. "Tseng. We've failed to get anything out of Tifa about the target."

"Abort mission. Return to base," Tseng calmly ordered.

"Boss, uhmm," Reno continued. "Is she with you right now?" he asked awkwardly.

Tseng grinned. He turned slightly to me. "Maybe you're not her, but it feels like old times nonetheless." He pressed the call button on his radio. "Affirmative. Ancient is secure." He put the radio away. "This is the part where you start running," he whispered, leaning slightly towards me.

I smiled and grasped the hilt of my sword, the slotted red Materia glowing as I summoned Bahamut Zero. Bahamut's obsidian form exploded out of the sky over Edge and hovered outside the window. I jumped out onto his back and took off into the night.

"Cancel that. Seria has escaped. Return to base for new orders." Tseng let go of the call button and turned to the stairs out.


	2. Survivor

**Six years earlier...**

"All right class, to your seats, I have a couple announcements to make before we begin today."

The noisy eighth grade class got back to their seats at Mr. Minsc's instruction. It took a couple loud taps of a ruler on the front desk, and a few pointed reminders to select students, but eventually the task was accomplished.

"Now class, I'm sure you're aware of the events going on in our city recently..."

A girl with glasses and curly red hair held up her hand.

"Yes, Rae?" Mr Minsc adressed.

"Are you talking about Avalanche's attack on Reactor 4 two weeks ago, and the damage to the railway that caused a public train to derail?" Rae asked.

"Yes. It is an unfortunate situation where a terrorist group claiming to be interested in the welfare of the Planet, could carelessly cause of the loss of so many lives."

Mr. Minsc uncapped a felt-tipped marker and briefly turned away from the class to write a date, time, and location on the whiteboard at the front of the classroom. He then addressed the class again, making an invisible underline with his ruler.

"This is where the memorial service will be held, I will be attending. I should hope to see a few of you there, aswell. One of our teachers and several students of this school were victims of the accident, and we should pay our respects. They were part of our lives, directly or indirectly, and they didn't deserve this to happen to them. No one does."

The class fell into a tense silence for several moments. Mr. Minsc cleared his throat as he collected his thoughts.

"Now, I would like to reintroduce a member of our class that has been missing for a couple weeks..."

Whispers erupted from the classroom. Mr. Minsc had to give several forceful ruler taps against his desk before they subsided.

"Yes, the rumours are true. Seria Rothe will be returning to class today."

"The freak!" A chestnut-haired young man at the front of the class said aloud, astonished.

"Thank you for volunteering to spend your lunch period with me, Joey. I'm sure I can find plenty of work for you to do," Mr. Minsc quickly quipped. Joey's face turned red and giggles came from all corners of the room. "Yes, Seria is back, and I want everyone to welcome her. She's been through a lot and is going to need our support. Isn't that right, Joey?"

Joey, face still red, nodded slowly, almost imperceptibly. Any further objections would result in another lunch break lost to the ruler-banging authority.

"All right then," Mr. Minsc said, satisfied. He took a couple strides to the door and opened it. "Come on inside," he spoke softly to the figure in the doorway. "Everyone," he projected, turning to the class. "Please welcome Seria back to our group."

Seria walked into the classroom, wearing a black t-shirt and an ash grey skirt with a brown leather bookbag slung over one shoulder. Whispers erupted from the class once more. Mr. Minsc frantically slammed his ruler against a desk to cease it, snapping it in two as the whispers got louder. Seria wrinkled one eyebrow in anger.

"_**SHUT UP!**_"

The class fell stone silent at her words. Without another sound from anyone, Seria returned to her desk and pulled her notebooks from her bag, then stared ahead at the whiteboard waiting for her return to normal to start.

* * *

"I am very sorry for your loss, Mr. Rothe," Mr. Minsc said into the phone pressed to his ear.

"It's alright, I guess. I keep trying to tell myself that... These things happen for a reason. Maybe someday I'll believe it," Marcus Rothe said from the other end of the line.

"It was a lovely funeral for Anna, I'm sure she would be very pleased."

Marcus chuckled. "It's funny you say that. Her and I, we had a pact if one of us should die before the other. She told me to bury her in a garbage bag and use the insurance money to get a new truck. If I went first? She was going to renovate the kitchen. She'd be real mad if she knew I didn't go through with it."

"That's a strange pact," Mr. Minsc remarked, amused.

"It was built on wanting the best for each other. In the end... I still wanted the best for Ann. There was no way I would've gone through with it. I'll put up with my beat up old junker a couple more years."

"How is Seria adjusting after the accident?" Mr. Minsc asked softly.

"She seems okay, a bit quieter than normal, but fine."

"I wanted to ask, what were her injuries, exactly?"

"Injuries? She was really bruised up when they pulled her out of that mangled wreck, but she was otherwise fine."

"Just... Bruised?" Mr. Minsc took the information with a note of shock. "Marcus, she doesn't seem to have a scratch on her. Over a hundred people died in that mess and she was the only person to walk away from it, and you expect me to believe she did so with no broken bones, no serious injuries of any kind?"

"I'm as puzzled by it as you. They kept her at the hospital almost a week for observation. But, when she called me and asked what I was making myself for dinner, she insisted she come home right away and refused to take no for an answer."

Mr. Minsc laughed. "Oh dear, what did you say?"

"I said I was just going to open a can of beans. She was immediately indignant about cooking me a meal."

"She's a very strong girl, in many ways."

"Yeah."

"I was wondering, with the whole traumatic experience, and the loss of her mother... Would you be willing to consider having Seria talk to a child psychologist friend of mine? It might help her to talk about it."

"I appreciate the offer, but I think she'll be fine. She's matured a lot over the past two weeks, she's hardly a child anymore."


	3. Family

**Present**

"For the last time, I'm _not_ interested."

Cloud thumbed the hilt of his sword thoughtfully. Or it would be thoughtfully, if the brain-damaged stereoid-infused _lump_ could manage any.

"You would make a great addition to the team, Seria. You're half Ancient - surely you want to help us make the Planet a better place?"

I snarled. "I've also got a bit of Jenova, too. Don't think I'm your go-lucky little saviour. I do what I do for my _own_ reasons, no one else's. How did you even find me?" Cloud looked away and I could see the reason why. He'd been using Yuffie to tail me the few times they could track me down. "Yuffie, huh?"

"What?" he asked, surprised.

"You forgot I can read minds, didn't you?" I huffed. "Although it wasn't hard to figure out she was following me. I slotted a Chocobo summon materia in my sword the other night to find it gone this morning. Was she dissapointed it wasn't her dragon?" I smirked, a twisted glee running through me.

"I just wanted to make sure you were safe," Cloud said, humbled.

"I'm not your dead girlfriend, _get over it_." I snapped. "Look, I'm not a nice person, I've done some pretty horrible things. I don't run with bands of terrorists though, eco-friendly or otherwise. Got it?"

"But," Cloud asked. "What are you going to do with your life, now that you have one to live?"

I shrugged. "Clean up a few messes, I suppose. Explore, find a hobby, that sort of thing. Waste time until I _do_ die."

"But, Seria-"

"_Shut it_. I am not a nice person. I have a lot to take care of, okay? It's better, and safer, if you all just forgot you ever met me."

I slammed the door in his face, and slid over the deadbolt with more force than was probably necessary. My adoptive father, Marcus Rothe, turned away from the Chocobo races he was watching and looked up from his beat up old sofa to asses the conclusion of the drama that had occurred right outside his house. The recent ordeal had almost made me forget that I was visiting him for the first time in a couple weeks.

"Bad day?" he asked gently.

I strode over and slumped into the sofa next to him. "Bad _week_. Ancients, don't even get me started."

"You know, I'm always here to listen," he offered.

"You don't want any of my problems, Dad."

"Not particularly, to be honest. But I can still listen."

I grinned and punched him lightly in the shoulder.

Visiting my dad was always sort of an adventure. He had put on some weight since about six years ago, and he was also having trouble with his knees. He usually had empty take-out boxes and wrappers everywhere, so when I got in I usually had a garbage bag in hand to scoop everything away from the floor. His couch was this beat up loveseat that was worn flat and smelled of cigar smoke, with a dull grey-blue colour. His TV was also showing it's age, the screen was fairly small and the sides had been fixed up with some wood panelling from the time I threw it at him. He worked as sort of a mechanic, so he also had tools littered everywhere that I would frequently step or trip on. Walking in to his house was like trying to wade through a mud-ridden minefield.

I sniffed the air. "Is the lasagna done already?" I mused out loud, rising from my seat to check it.

"It smells wonderful, but you know, you really don't have to."

"Nonsense. I can't have you eating beans and chicken wings and crap." I started tossing the salad I'd brought with the meal.

"I don't like salad."

"What's wrong with salad? You need your greens, Dad."

"It's bird food. Give it to my Chocobo here in the races all you like, but not to me, thanks."

_Too bad_, I thought. I dropped some on his plate. I took the lasagna out of the oven carefully and scooped some of that over to his plate aswell. I returned with the meal and utensils and handed it to him.

"Now, Dad," I said in a mocking tone. "I don't want to see anything left on this plate when you're done, understand?"

"Yes dear," he chuckled.

I sat down to watch the races with him. His bird wasn't doing too well. At least he wasn't betting on them any more, I had to deal with his gambling in my early teens. That was a pretty rough time. I'd just lost my mom and my dad fell apart infront of me. Oftentimes I had to steal money out of his wallet just to buy us some groceries, because he'd go to work at the shop and come back, having lost it all on the midday race. Finally I had enough and set him straight: I took my sword and yelled at him, _"Do you want to bet on a fight? I'll go down to Wall Market right now and fight the meanest fricken' guy I can find!"_

He caught me in my reminiscent daze when he turned to ask, "So, that guy at my doorstep. Was he a boyfriend or something?"

"Ancients no!" I blurted out, disgusted. "Naw, he's the leader of Avalanche."

"The leader of..?"

"He wasn't around when mom died, and it doesn't seem like they're in the business of derailing trains full of people anymore. Oh, and he's kind of an idiot."

"It really scares me what you get yourself involved in, hun."

"I know, Dad." I sighed.

"Anything I should know about?"

"Oh, the Turks might be looking to kill you."

He threw his hands in the air and moaned overdramatically. "Should I get in the bunker again?"

"Not now that you've said it," I gestured towards where the old phone sat on a messy end table. "Your phone is bugged. By the way, landline? Really?" I grinned.

"The plan is peanuts these days, what with you kids and your fancy cellphones. Speaking of plans, are they coming soon?"

"Don't think so, they're chasing a lead I left in Wutai."

"So, what _is_ the plan?"

"It's not something I can say out loud. Finish your meal, we'll sort that out later."


	4. Somebodys hero

**Six years earlier...**

"Stop it!"

I was walking home from school through Sector 5 when I heard it. It sounded like a little boy.

"Please, give it back! I need it!"

I turned to look where the voice was coming from. A couple taller boys, I'd estimate around my own age, were terrorizing a smaller boy by throwing what I guess was a Potion back and forth over his head. The smaller boy was crying hysterically as he franticly ran between them in futile attempts to catch it.

There were a lot of people around ignoring this. Most people do in this city, it's no Promised Land. But I could tell from the little boy's face that there was a bit more to it than that. I wasn't going to just watch.

"Hey!" I called out, a little nervously.

One of the older boys looked over at me. "Mind your own business!" he shouted back.

"I don't think so, no," I took some steps forward. I put a hand on the hilt of my practice sword. "I don't like what's going on here, so you'd better cut it out before I have to use this."

"Tch, like a _girl_ could use a sword. Get lost, _freak_."

I got close enough, then unsheathed it and made a quick cut across his nose, just cutting the flesh. He backed up holding his nose and missed the catch. The Potion fell to the ground and shattered, sending the little boy into further hysterics.

"Do we want to try that again?" I said, calmer now.

I caught the other boy's thoughts. He had a Materia! He thought I might not have any magic defenses, so he pulled up a sleeve to reveal the bronze bracer it was slotted in, and cast an Ice spell at me. I looked at him disdainfully for a moment as I shrugged off the cold, then I took the sheathe and snapped it into the side of his nose, hearing a loud crack.

"I'm a lot tougher than I look, moron. Now, _you_ get lost," I demanded, glaring at them with every ounce of thirteen year-old fury I could manage.

Thankfully, they both left once they clued in that I had a sword and wasn't going anywhere myself. I sheathed it and crouched near the little boy, who was sobbing over the remains of his Potion bottle.

"What's wrong?" I asked the smaller boy.

"I- I needed it..." he blubbered. He was too far into tears to be coherent, thankfully I didn't need him to be. He needed it for his mother, who had been attacked by a monster and was hurt near the edge of town. His brother was with her and he'd been sent to get something to help.

"I see," I said. "I don't think a Potion will help."

"Wh-What?"

I straightened. "Come with me," I said, attempting to be soothing. He took my hand more out of curiosity than anything.

I brought him to Sector 6 and bought an Antidote with my allowance, showing it to him. "See? I think she's been poisoned. She'll be fine so long as she doesn't move too much, but we'd better give her this if she wants to get you home."

"Okay!" the boy's strength renewed. She was going to be okay. That's all he needed to know.

He eagerly took me to where he'd left his mom and brother, in the train graveyard. I uncorked the bottle and gave it to her. In moments she was on her feet and feeling much better. She cast a Cure spell on herself to top up before thanking me.

"I don't think I would've made it home without your help," she smiled brightly, her boys clinging to her sides.

"It's no problem," I said, suddenly conscious of the eggs in my bag I was taking home. I'd had to stop for groceries on the way. "How did you get out here though? This isn't really a safe place to be."

"We were trying to cut across to get to the station. Not a good idea, I know, but Rhoe," she gestured to the older boy. "He has a doctors appointment and I was in a rush. I think we've missed it now."

"Well, take care of yourselves," I said, attempting to dismiss myself.

"Wait, aren't you taking the train? Let's walk together," the mother proposed.

"Thanks, but, I," I looked past her in the distance. "I don't take the train anymore."

I think she could feel my sadness with the way her mouth opened in a silent "Oh."

"Take care of your mother, alright boys? She's the only one you've got." I said, departing towards the next Sector.

"Wait!" the mother said, running a couple steps to catch up. She put something round and hard in my hand and closed my fingers around it insistently. "I want you to have this."

"What? I don't deserve-"

"Take it, it's a Fire Materia. I don't want the boys playing with it anyways."

"Thank you," I mumbled. "I'd better get going. Be careful."


	5. An old friend

**Present**

The trouble with visiting Wutai was that, no matter how stealthy you were, there was always someone better picking up your trail. I did my best to stagger my tracks and take advantage of foliage, but unless I got into the habit of leaping from one tree to the next, I was certain someone was following me.

It didn't matter who or why, however. I was about to make my move.

I deftly climbed the side of a small house. There were dim lights on inside, and I could hear laughter. I knew my target would be inside. Carefully I made my way across the slanted wood-shingled rooftop to the middle, where there was a small skylight going down the other side. I took a quick look, careful not to reveal myself. Yep, he was in there alright. I was catching him at a weak moment.

I jumped and crashed straight through the glass skylight. I drew my sword as I fell to one knee and confronted him, his guards alerted and drawing their weapons.

He sat up, stunned in surprise. He waved a hand to his guards and they stopped their cautious advance.

I grinned a bright, feral smile. "So, we meet again."

"I have to say," he said, a note of anxiety cluttering his words. "You were the last person I ever expected to see."

* * *

"You should've seen your face!" I laughed. "Donny, my man, I will cherish that moment for the rest of my life!" I raised my glass and clinked it against his bottle.

Don Corneo was having difficulty keeping his sake from coming out of his nose. "Oh darling, you always know how to make my life interesting!" He laughed uproariously. He wiped the foam from his mouth on the sleeve of his rich silk kimono, then took one final swig from the bottle before setting it down. "Oh Seria, I haven't seen you in ages! I thought you were lost to me forever!"

"I got out of Midgar well before Meteorfall," I answered the question in his thoughts. He'd thought I was dead. "I would've visited sooner, but, ahh, you know how it is," I said, taking a sip from the murky pale brown liquid that made up my drink. "But hey, I've been dying to ask; Did you ever get married?"

"Naw, I decided not to bother with that, not when there's so many appealing ladies out there, if you know what I mean," he said, giving me a nudge.

"Say no more," I quickly responded, reeling from the lecherous thoughts in his head. "What's been going on with you though? I thought I was the only one who was good at dissapearing. You're cramping my style."

He chuckled. "As soon as we saw that thing in the sky, I took everything I had to Junon to catch the first boat out of that mess. I knew I had some assets in Wutai, so eventually I just settled in."

"What about the old business?"

"It's harder than you would think getting 'protection' funds out of a city of ninjas. I got my hands into things here and there, though. You know Turtle's Paradise? I'm running it now."

"Wow, I see flyers for that up everywhere!" I remarked. "So, you seem to be living well I guess, you seem a bit more... 'Rotund', than I remember," I grinned, nudging his large stomach. He gave a good natured, rolling laugh. "I guess you don't need my help with anything anymore, right?" I asked.

He remained thoughtful for a minute or two, and I could see all his recent dirty dealings running through his head. "Well, not at the moment, but I could keep you posted. Never know when you need someone to disappear, right?"

"Actually," I started, hesitant. "I was hoping I could square with you, get out of all that. Honestly I don't think there's much of the old work to be had these days."

Don gave me a drunken, yet pointed, look. "Not this again. How can I let go of my youngest and most pleasing assassin?"

"Hey, we're not going to have a problem, are we Donny?" I shot back in warning.

"No Seria," he chuckled. "No problems today."

"I mean it this time. I want out of that dirty business," I said. I pulled a thick envelope from my coat and showed it to him. "I know I owe you, so I've saved up some gil. I can give you that so long as you promise me you won't ask me to kill again."

"What about being a bodyguard?" he said, trying to haggle.

"We'll see. You know how to contact me. If you're going to ask me to do anything, I want all the details up front from now on, alright? No exceptions."

"That's fair, I suppose," he sighed, defeated. "You're right, there's not much out there anymore. Some of the old enemies got caught in Meteorfall, and Shinra's gone. Avalanche seems to be running the show more than anyone else, and I have a history with them." He groaned. "I'll keep my distance on that one."

"A history, eh?" I smirked. "You'll have to share that with me some day."


	6. Making ends meet

**Six years earlier...**

Marcus hung up the phone and held his head in his hands. The call with the bank had not gone well.

"Dad," I asked. "What's wrong?" I hardly needed to ask. I noticed he had been coming home later each night in a sour mood. He had been spending his money on bets at the races. And losing quite a bit.

"I'm sorry sweetie," he sighed. "I can't pay the mortgage this month."

"That's two months in a row," I pointed out. "We're going to get kicked out."

"I know, I know," he said, a brief wave of irritability washing over him. He was trying to work out the situation in his head. His truck wouldn't be worth enough to make it, and more hours at work wouldn't bring in enough in time. It was looking pretty bad.

I wasn't sure what I could say to help. Both my parents had worked for as long as I could remember, and even with two incomes they were still scraping by. Now that mom was gone, we weren't going to make it.

I remembered the fire Materia that lady had given me for helping her and her sons a few weeks ago. I left my dad sitting in silence in our cluttered livingroom and raced up the stairs to find it. I had put it in a steel lockbox under my bed. I took it out and had a good look at it; it had grown and was at least level two. Maybe it was worth something.

I threw it into my bookbag and headed downstairs, my sword at my hip in case I ran into any monsters. Dad had moved to watch TV on the couch. He looked up as he noticed me come down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Out."

"Out where? It's eight o'clock at night."

"Just out, Dad. I'll be back in an hour or two, okay?"

He didn't like the thought of his daughter going out at night, but he wasn't in the mood to argue the point. I grabbed my keys from the hook next to the door as I slipped my boots on, then I was off.

I made my way from our small house on the edge of the plate above Sector 1 down the central spire along the side of the tracks. I knew there was a shop in Sector 7 that sold Materia, I would start there. It was a long hike down, and very quiet. A chill clawed it's way up my spine, and I reflexively gripped my sword. Something was just, _off_, I couldn't put my finger on it. As I got closer, I could hear gunshots in the distance.

Sector 7 had been evacuated. There was a break in the fence and monsters were threatening the area. There were a few of Shinra's troops holding the line. I slotted the Fire Materia into the hilt of my sword before running up to check it out. There were a couple people in blue suits trying to keep everyone away from the breach.

"Stay back, everyone! We should have this contained in only a few minutes," one of them shouted.

"What's happening?" I managed to push to the front of the crowd of distraught civillians.

She looked at me annoyed. "Nothing to worry about. Some monsters managed to get through the fence, but trust me, we're handling it."

Almost as soon as she'd said it, a couple Fangs leapt over the barrier and into the crowd. Screams erupted as I grasped the hilt of my sword reflexively and cast Fire on one of them. It howled it's pain and ran in circles for mere moments before slumping to the ground ablaze. The other let out a fierce snarl and started to charge towards me. I drew my sword and slashed it lengthwise, sending it whimpering past me. One of the soldiers ahead finished it off as it tried to run.

The lady in blue got back to her feet, compulsively dusting herself off. "Hey, that was pretty good," she remarked. "Are you some kind of mercenary?"

"Mercenary?" I asked, never having heard the word before. "No, I was just trying to get to the shop."

"Well, you're welcome to help if you'd like. Take that Materia of yours and help us clear out some of these beasts," she directed.

I shrugged and passed her to the front of the line. It seemed like a whole pack of Fangs had broken through the fence, which I could now see had been under repairs when it was overwhelmed. The troops were having some trouble, some of them had died.

I held my sword and started casting Fire where I could. The monsters were endless. It felt like there wasn't anything I could do. I managed to destroy a dozen of them before I started feeling weak. I had never used Materia very much before, and this was taking it's toll. I had to try this from a different angle.

I stood up and held my sword above my head, focussing on an invisible line in the ground ahead of me. "Fire 2!" I shouted, and the ground erupted in kind. I created a wall of fire to push the monsters back.

Some were brave, and attacked despite the barrier I had put up. I earned some scratches but fended them off with my sword. Most were caught in or behind it, and took off whimpering. Soon, the worst of it was over.

I was sitting on the ground trying to collect my chaotic thoughts when the girl from earlier crouched next to me, offering a bottle of water.

"Thanks," I said through a breath. I uncapped it and rinsed my mouth, then poured some down the blade of my sword to clear off some of the blood before returning it to it's sheathe.

"No problem. I'm Cissnei," she introduced. "What's your name?"

"I'm no one special," I announced, pulling myself to my feet. "Just glad I could help, I guess."

"Well, I'm not sure we could've done it without you. What were you doing out here anyway?"

I showed her the Fire Materia in my sword that had been so instrumental in the fight. "I need to sell this Materia. Times have been kind of rough," I explained.

"I'd hate to see that go," she grinned. She pulled an envelope from within her jacket. "Here."

I raised an eyebrow curiously and opened the envelope infront of her. It contained about three thousand gil in large notes. "What?" I asked bewildered. That was a _lot_ of money.

"That's the standard rate for mercenary work like this. Maybe you should look into it," she suggested charmingly. She walked away and waved to the troops. Some of the workers appeared from wherever they'd been hiding, and followed their new guards over to the breach.

I looked at the money. I looked at Cissnei's back in the distance. "You realize I'm only thirteen years old?" I muttered to myself. Still, it was more than enough to survive.

* * *

Dad was waiting just inside the door when I got home. I didn't have the time to unsling my bookbag from my shoulders or tear off my boots before the probing questions began.

"Where were you? What happened?" he said, his anger at my going out late fading into worry when he saw the cuts and bruises on my arms and face.

"Just monsters Dad, I'm fine." I sighed.

"Do you realize how long you've been gone?"

"About two hours?" I read in his surface thoughts.

He hesitated, having expected me to argue with him. "Yes. What were you doing in that time?"

"Just fighting monsters," I answered. It was the truth, he just didn't want to accept it. I set my bag down on the low shelf in the front hall, opening it up and withdrawing the envelope. "Here," I said, handing it to him.

"What is this?" he inquired. He opened it and the blood drained from his face. "Holy-"

"Mortgage money. We're going to the bank tomorrow morning to sort that out, okay?" I pulled my bag up onto one shoulder and headed upstairs. "I'm going to bed. I'm tired."


End file.
